July 19th
by Diana Raven
Summary: Some people in Gotham wish Tim a happy birthday, it's not who you think.


**Happy birthday Timberoonie! I love you so much, bud!**

 **Also this is kinda also because i didn't realize it was your bday until nine at night and i felt guilty**

* * *

Despite the fact that it was summer, the air was cold. Then again it didn't help that Tim happened to be standing on the top of the tallest building in downtown Gotham.

Tim liked it here. He liked the cold and the fact that he could see all of Gotham below him. He liked the way the streetlights and cars sparkled from this height like stars, and he loved that he could smell the sewage from the piers and factories not five miles away from where he stood. He liked that he could see the dusky clouds that were never clear enough for stars so the night always looked like a grayish-black and that the moon was nothing more than a fuzzy circle behind one of these clouds. He liked that he could swing down from the building whenever he wanted and he also liked watching airplanes fly past. He liked the way the wind blew through him and how when he stood on the edge of the roof he felt like he could fly. He also liked watching sunrise and sunset from here.

The batsignal shone dully in the sky, against a canvas of dusky, ever moving clouds. He watched from his perch. He never thought he would end up having 'a perch,' Bruce had one, and so did Dick and Jason. These places high up in the city where they liked to stay and just… watch. But Tim had one, and it was here. Far far away from the street below, and whatever crimes might have been happening, whatever merriment might have been celebrated, whatever lives people might have been having.

Tim liked it here. He liked being away from the hustle and bustle of the never empty streets. The calm and clear of the sky was what he lived for. He lived for swinging through Gotham's twisted and dark streets. He lived for that one last mugging of the night that he stopped, swooping in and barely having to fight because it was so late that even the mugger himself was falling asleep. He lived for base jumping from these tall buildings, and he lived for the showdowns in front of the giant clock in the center of town, where, usually, _someone_ was trying to kill someone else and they'd fight, dodging the ticking hands (what could he say, Clock King had recently had a crime-spree which led to just such a situation for Bruce).

"Fancy seeing you here." Someone said. Red Robin turned to see Selina Kyle saunter up to him. "I would have said 'oh look what the cat dragged in,' because, you know, cat-based pun. But I figured it would be too tacky." She walked over to where Tim sat on the edge of the building, kicking his legs over the side, and sat next to him.

"Isn't this a little high for you, Selina?" Tim asked.

Selina shrugged. "No worries, even if I do fall, I _always_ land on my feet." Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "There, obligatory cat pun over." Selina said, grinning.

"What brings you here?" Tim asked.

Selina didn't listen to him, instead staring out into the city. "Beautiful, isn't she?" Tim didn't respond, he only followed her gaze to the sparkling, not so pretty city before him.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"You know, people claim Metropolis is the most beautiful city, but… I think our girl has her beat. Despite maybe not being as… boy-scout-y as her."

"Dark. I think the word most people would use is dark."

Selina shrugged again. She looked at Tim and studied his uniform. "Don't tell me you're patrolling today." She said.

"Why wouldn't I? I mean, I'm not, but why wouldn't I?"

"If you're not patrolling then why are you wearing your uniform?"

"I like wearing it. Plus, you wouldn't have been able to recognize me if I was me, just sitting up here in civvies."

Selina snorted. "Oh please. Give me _some_ credit, Red, I could tell who you were."

"I really doubt it." He said, an amused smile flickering onto his lips.

There was a pause, then: "Happy birthday, Tim."

Tim froze. "Wh-what?"

Selina grinned. "Didn't think I knew _that,_ did you?"

"I-it's not my birthday!" Tim said, flustered.

"Technically it is, as of right now, twelve oh one AM, so yeah, it is your birthday."

"How-?"

"I have learned a lot about you all from your father, kid. Your birthdays? _Please_ , that was one of the first things he told me." Tim looked down at the street. "I… know, he doesn't always remember on time, but he does _know_. Not that that exempts him, oh no, if he doesn't remember your birthday this year I'm going to shame him until eternity to come, but… he does know."

Tim still said nothing.

"Plus I think it's only fair, you know my name and everything about _me_ , I should be allowed to know your name and your birthday." Selina said.

"Uh-huh." Tim said, amused.

There was another pause and Selina mimicked Tim in his kicking of his legs. "Soo… I do have a little present."

"A present." Tim repeated. Selina nodded. "For me." Selina nodded again. "From you." Tim finished processing the statement. "Well, I sure hope you didn't steal it."

Selina rummaged around in a pocket that seemed to appear from nowhere on her suit, finally pulling out one of those little jewelry boxes they give you to hold your necklace-present-thing in. It was red, and about two inches by an inch, with black polka-dots and a matching black ribbon tied in a bow. "Don't be ridiculous, I wouldn't give you something stolen. You'd just return it. This you can't return. Oh, it's not just from me. It's from all of us."

"All of us?" Tim repeated warily. He took the box carefully from her, as if it might explode.

"Yeah. Me, Ivy, Harley, Riddler, Scarecrow, Penguin, y'know, all of us."

Now Tim really did think it was going to explode.

"Oh don't worry, Tim, it's fine. They don't know it's your birthday so no secret-identity spillage there." She waited patiently for Tim to open it, but he didn't. "Aren't you going to open it?"

"How do I know it won't explode?"

Selina rolled her eyes. "Red Robin, clearly you haven't been in Gotham that long-"

"I have lived here my whole life."

"-Gotham villains network. And _sure_ we're usually very evil and crazy, and a good bunch of us aren't invited to other villain shindigs because of it-"

"There are 'villain shindigs'?"

"- _but_ we do care about our enemies, believe it or not. Well, sometimes. On a good day. Anyway, we thought you deserved this, it just happens that it's happening on your birthday. Plus, Mad Hatter got a handful of people to help because they just really want to feel important enough for you to use this for _them_."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"If we were in Metropolis, I would be. This would probably be a trap, and then five other villains whom I have been secretly working with to lure you into this ambush would jump you and we'd do a villain monologue and have a stupid, alliterative name, but no. This is Gotham. And in Gotham… well, there's a reason your father usually sends us straight to Arkham."

"You're saying a bunch of villains got me a birthday present, because they want… to see me use it on them?"

"Not really _on_ them, more _for_ them. It'll make more sense when you open it." Selina said. Tim looked at her, concerned, and she gave him an encouraging smile.

Slowly Tim unraveled the ribbon and opened the small cardboard box.

It didn't explode.

Well, that was a good start. He opened his eyes hesitantly, and was (honestly) a little let-down by what was in side.

"Thanks," Tim said as he picked the present off of it's cotton cushion, "I've always wanted a USB drive."

"Go home, and open it the file. You won't be disappointed." Selina promised as she stood. She stretched her arms over her head and cracked her back. "And don't patrol tonight. Invite some friends over, maybe have a movie marathon. You're only young once, Tim, don't waste it away chasing us."

"Thanks Mom." Tim said.

Selina grinned. "And give your father a kiss for me."

"Give him one yourself." Tim said as she flicked out her whip.

"You know, it's funny, usually you and your siblings are trying to tell me the opposite. I do recall a recent event where I kissed your father and you harmonized your fake-throwing-up."

"Yeah… that was Steph's idea. One of the good ones too."

Selina chuckled. "Use it in good health," she said, nodding to the USB, and then she jumped and was gone.

Tim decided to go home to see what horrors the villainy of Gotham had wished him for his birthday. Maybe he'd patrol a little after, just to spite Selina. Though he had to say, this was one of the most comfortable talks he and she had had in a long time.

Also he was going to kill Bruce for telling Selina when his birthday was.

He slipped into his apartment and changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. As soon as he stepped foot into his bedroom he had an undeniable urge to fall face first into his mattress and not wake up until Steph would inevitably bound through the door with his birthday waffles (complete with candles and all) during an ungodly hour like nine am. But he pulled out his computer instead and stuck in the flash-drive, praying that he wouldn't get a virus.

He didn't.

What was on the drive was something… surprisingly better.

Security footage from the top of the Police Station that Commissioner Gordon worked at, the one on which the batsignal had been placed, shining, as it was at the moment, ever so brightly. A beacon of hope and comfort to the everyday residents of Gotham City. At first, Tim saw nothing out of the ordinary, then it happened.

Villains began to seep onto the top of the building like ants to honey (some of them, like Clayface, literally seeping). They swarmed the roof, some even waved to the camera, like they knew Tim would be watching this. They worked and worked, bringing pieces of scrap metal and wires and glass? Tim watched as the huddle five feet from the batsignal seemed to pulse as people walked back and forth. Sometimes the huddle grew larger, and sometimes it grew smaller. Villains left and came, and Tim watched for thirty minutes as this continued, but not once did he get a clear picture of what they were huddling around.

Then they all turned to the camera, waved as one, then they began to disappear, sliding and jumping and walking and flying from the rooftop.

That's when Tim understood, because then Tim finally saw it. They'd built him his own batsignal, one with his Red Robin logo on it. Right next to Batman's.


End file.
